The Dairy Industry's 'Dark Secret' - The Killing of Pregnant Cows and their Calves

Despite the myth of contentment, a dairy cow is the hardest worked of all farmed animals. She nurtures a growing baby inside her while simultaneously producing milk - up to 120 pints a day. To keep the flow going, she is forcibly impregnated every year and her babies are taken away a day or two after birth -- year, after year. Professor John Webster describes the removal of the calf as the 'most potentially distressing incident in the life of the dairy cow'.

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"The dairy cow is exposed to more abnormal physiological demands than any other farm animal. She is the supreme example of an overworked mother."

Cows produce milk for a reason. They are female mammals who need to feed their young -- just like us. And the process which makes it happen is also the same --pregnancy, birth and suckling. No babies, no milk! The final, cruel twist is that dairy cows are allowed to suckle their babies for just a day or two, after which they are taken away. The magical process of reproduction has been perverted -- cows are no longer seen as mothers producing food for their babies but milk machines.

A dairy cow's milk begins to dry up nine to 12 months after giving birth, when her calf would be weaned. This is bad economics so, to keep the milk flowing, she is artificially inseminated two to three months after giving birth. The result? A crushing double burden of pregnancy and lactation for seven months out of every 12. It inevitably takes its toll -- excruciating mastitis (udder infection), lameness, infertility and low milk yield. A quarter of all UK cows, mostly under five years old, are killed every year - physically exhausted.

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